What options are available after warranty has expired?

I own a Thinkpad T400. When I check for its warranty status, I get the message that "this product has a one year limited warranty and is entitled to IBM EZServ service." The one year limited warranty expired on 6/4/10.

I looked into other posts in this forum and found out that it is possible to extend warranty after the limited warranty period has expired. For example, this post mentions that warranty can be extended after it has expired. A reply down in that thread says that one can purchase a Thinkplus post warranty. I checked this page and got an impression that my machine is still eligible for a Post warranty extension. Some other posts have mentioned that there is an automatic 3-year replacement warranty. I tried looking into the terms and conditions but could not find any clear statement indicating this.

My question is: I want to add warranty years to my machine. Is it possible now? How? I am in Germany, but I can't speak German- so please do not ask me to call a German service center. I would like to know of the available options so that I can decide. If you can give me references to official Lenovo policies, would be great. Also, if I want to replace my hard drive now, would it be possible? If I would like to re-install my OS, would it be possible?

I am in great confusion. Your help would be highly appreciated. If you need to further information, please let me know.

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Re: What options are available after warranty has expired?

It is still confusing to me. I had already checked by entering my serial number before starting this thread. it says that the warranty expired on 2010. My machine is T400, type is 2764. The whole point is to know if it is possible to extend my laptop's warranty or not. I think the question is straightforward. I appreciate your time and effort and would be very thankful if you'd read through the following and give me some suggestions.

I followed your suggestions and here's what I got.

1. Message received after following Tanuj's link (using google translate):

+Warranty

For the systemarecurrentlynoservicesavailable.

Iftheservices youhaveexpected, are not displayed,this isone of the followingreasonsthe case:Thewarrantyperiodhas expiredon your system. Serviceextensionsmaybeaddedonly duringthe warranty period.Wasalreadyregisteredfor the systemexpansionor extension ofa guarantee(there can be no furtherextension orrenewalto be registered).AccidentProtection(ThinkPadProtection/Lenovo CareProtection Service) canonly be purchasedin the first 90days of thestandardwarrantyperiod.

2. Following richk's link:

- Clicking Mobile Products from the section ThinkPlus and Lenovo Care Services for Warranty and Maintenance Options (WSU) takes me to a page which is greatly confusing. There are three columns Base Warranty, Upgrade Service Description and Part Number, all with different values for my machine type, ranging from 1 year to 3. Again, I had already seen this page before starting this thread. It would be a great help if someone could explain to me what all those things mean and if or not I can extend my machine's warranty.

- Clicking Mobile Products from the section

ThinkPlus and Lenovo Care Services for Post-Warranty Maintenance (MA) also takes me to a similar page. This time, however, the max warranty period is 2 years. Also, what is depot and onsite warranty? And what is the difference between this page and the earlier one?

- Clicking Mobile Productsfrom the section

ThinkPad Protection and Lenovo Care Protection Services takes me to yet another page with yet another values. I also failed to understand the differences and purpose. Why so many names and so many complications to explain simple things?

Finally,

Honestly, the only thing I am interested in finding out is whether or not I can buy a warranty plan for my machine. Why does it have to be so complicated?

My machine is already 3 years old, and I have been trying to find out about extending warranty for more than a year now. It had not occurred to me before that asking in this forum would be more useful than anything. Also I am interested in knowing if or not I can replace my hard disk for free (because if it is still covered by warranty, I would not want to use an old disk and risk losing my data). Of course, if my laptop is not covered and is at risk of dying, I would like to take the next best option and replace parts that are prone to failure.

I will highly appreciate any help and would like to thank you for going through my post